A total design concept for a Portsmouth car park regeneration scheme has reduced installation costs by 90% and total costs by 62·5%.
Gunwharf Quays is the centrepiece of the Portsmouth Harbour regeneration scheme. The landmark scheme is a major waterfront retail and leisure development. The car park is where most visitors will get their first impression of the area, and as such it was deemed important to get the design right. The lighting had to be robust, functional, elegant and easy to install.

Developer Berkeley Festival Waterfront and consulting engineer Roberts & Partners appointed ABB as m&e contractor and Advanced Lighting Systems (ALS) to supply the lighting system.

ABB chose to maximise off-site prefabrication in order to achieve quality and installation demands and to simplify site logistics. To achieve this, ALS opted for a lighting solution along the same lines and selected second-generation EL-B stainless steel, pre-wired trunking protected to IP54 from German manufacturer Lite-Licht’s range. A mixture of standard and bespoke lighting fittings were used.

The luminaires were pre-wired, tested and pre-connected to the trunking; electrical installation on site only required connecting through-trunking wiring at each 6·2 m section and adding the prepared junction boxes at the end of each row.

The project was completed ahead of schedule and with minimal disruption to Portsmouth Harbour.